To buy or not to buy?? I have opportunity to purchase 80 acres of good hunting land that produces a 150" buck annually. It is 80% woods, 10% grassland where i could create some food plots, and 10% ponds. There are no roads to the land as the only way in would be through the back of my property. There are lots of deer on it. The dilemma is that the guy id be purchasing it with wants to use the established trails riding ATVs all summer with his family until mid September. Is this enough time for deer to feel safe to move back in for the peak of hunting season?? Or will the deer become strictly nocturnal to this land due to high traffic during summer months??The land is surrounded by private land with over 900 acres to E that doesn't get hunted but there are cattle in there, the 160 to the south only gets rifle hunted and is ok farm land. Thoughts?? Thanks.

If it's affordable for you, I'd say buy. Deer, although weary at, first do seem to get used to things especially if there is no immediate threat. A lot depends on how often they use it, but if it's not used from Oct. on, you should have it made. Also, if you have adjoining land that isn't hunted much, all the better. I see no reason why you can't draw deer from adjoining lands.

I'm curious, is he to pay you rent to use it, or did he give you a good deal with his use added in? And how many years is this to go on?

I'd also have to know when your deer season begins and ends? Also, do you plan to plant food plots near the established trails? Deer do get used to the traffic, but you also don't need people riding the atvs over the planted plots..........and we all know many atv riders tend to not stay on the trails!!!!!!!

Thanks for your opinions. The other guy is going to be part owner as he's the one that actually found up its about to be listed and he's my neighbor. We live in central MN where the woods start to transition to a little pasture and farm land. I'm only on 6 acres while my neighbor has 12, and we are just to the West of all the land I previously described. If I could buy it myself I definitely would, but I can't afford to at this time so I have to partner up. As far as food plots, the only place to put them is mainly the SE corner of the property where there is a small pocket of woods nd a couple fingers of woods that jet out into where the food plots will be. There are no ATv trails running through where the plots would be, but one does run along the outside of the plots. The rest of the land would be the woods with several ridges running in all directions around a couple real small ponds. Our bow season opens mid Sept, but I don't really start bowhunting here til mid-late oct, and then rifle season is a week in early Nov. Any other thoughts?? Thanks

He rides his ATV yearly through it, has fires back there, his dog, cutting wood, riding the trails right up to hunting season. Even parks the ATV next to his ground blind. Rarely does he have issues with killing deer.I think a large portion is because its done yearly, even through hunting season. Deer I guess get used to it or don't feel its a threat. He's not killing 150's, but very respectable MI 8's and 10's. In fact just this year apparently our 3rd cousin missed a HUGE 8 during youth season. HUGE. I'm told it was the largest ever seen on the property. That right there might have sent the buck out of the woods however

"Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see farther."

If you know that there are 150" deer on the property being taken every year and if there are ATV trails already in place then I would think that there shouldn't be any problem with him running through there every now and then. I don't know how it is where you live but around the time that deer season starts here in the northeast state/local ATV trails can be closed for the "mud season". By that time the deer are so used to the sounds from the ATV's that it shouldn't bother them.

Here on our property, we have established trails for access to our stands and to reach the food plots for planting and putting out corn. It doesn't affect the deer other than occasionally jumping one or two and running them off; but they always return after a short while. Also, on the property where I hunt with the hounds, we have a lot of ATV trails that are used to access the swamp areas where we have permanent stands for still hunting and/or locations for taking positions to kill deer when the dogs are running them. Several of our members and their friends utilize those trails for the ATV rides both during the off season and sometimes at certain times of the season when we have big dinners or bar-b-q events. It doesn't seem to make any negative impact on the deer, since we still manage to jump every time we turn the dogs loose. We even manage to kill deer on dog drives at some sights, then go back and still hunt with the rifles at the same stands in the late afternoon....often with success. If the deer get used to the noise and commotion they tend to ignore it, or at the most just leave for a while 'til it calms down. I know I've gotten trail cam pictures of me riding off on my 4 wheeler and sometimes it's less than five minutes later when I have pictures of deer back on the food plots.